After Winter, Spring
by BuRping GodDess
Summary: Kuchiki Byakuya doesn't like being left behind. ByakuyaRenji. Kuchiki sibling fluff.


A/ N : The start of a whole new series fic focused mainly on Byakuya and Renji. With Kuchiki sibling fluff. Enjoy! Read and review pls.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach...blah blah blah.

**After Winter, Spring**

Chapter 1: Left Behind

Kuchiki Byakuya remembers the first day _it_ started, when the sixth division noise level underwent a drastic reduction and that very same night when he returned home to an emptier house.

To the sixth division members, their taichou currently seems even more stiff-necked since _it_ had started, and to the observant, just a tad worse tempered and prone to snapping at the slightest mistake on the reports.

Those gifted with keen observation skills would have noted that the area around their taichou's eyes seems tighter than normal when he looked at the calendar and his eyes rested on the empty desk outside his office longer than was necessary.

Those possessing extraordinary high levels of observation and deduction skills as well as an uncannily accurate amount of woman's intuition, such as Unohana-taichou (_and Yumichika of the 11th division, which really is rather irrelevant as he is not around_), would have discerned that the sixth division taichou tended to be summarily distracted at captain meetings, having a faraway look in his eyes even as Yamamoto-taichou droned on about budget cuts.

Unohana Retsu observed the atypical behaviour from behind her braids before waylaying the captain in question after the end of one particularly tedious meeting.

"Kuchiki-taichou, have you heard from the human world recently?"

An innocent question, but one that cut straight to the heart of the problem.

A slight tensing of the body, unnoticeable to most(but not someone as skilled as Unohana in the medical field)

"Abarai sends…" a fleeting pause.

"…consistent reports." That came scrawled _once a week_ in illegible writing when he had specifically asked for _daily _reports.

"Rukia sends reports to her captain directly." As well as with short postscripts at the bottom of Renji's letters asking her brother to take care of her Chappy-the-rabbit-chan and a description of her most recent attempt at using a straw.

"They've only been gone two weeks but it seems so much longer than that doesn't it?" Unohana sighs compassionately, but her eyes twinkle at Byakuya.

"Have you looked at the latest news from the Twelfth Division?" _Twinkle twinkle._

After fifteen minutes, Byakuya excuses himself from her knowing gaze with utmost care (never hastily) and retreats back to his office, reminding himself never to underestimate the passive-looking fourth division captain.

He allows himself a smile that is barely there when he spots a tattered-looking letter on his desk and does not bother to reprimand two shinigami for handing in their reports late.

He sits back to read the familiar untidy scrawl and mentally corrects each spelling mistake, ignoring the pile of paperwork on his desk marked urgent. He reads with exasperation the blow-by-blow accounts of all the fights Renji has been in (mostly with Madarame and Ichigo and one measly Hollow) and muses that when he told Renji to include more detail in his reports he was not referring to _this_.

He looks at the postscript and reflects that despite how close and informal their relationship has become, no, he will not take Chappy-the-rabbit out for a walk because he must be really bored in her room. He wondered what she meant when she told him ice-cream is the modern world's greatest invention but that eating too much made your head hurt.

He rereads the letter thrice and looks at the calendar and smirks as he realizes that the team will return to seireitei in two days for a full report.

He smirks even more as he looks at the latest missive from the twelfth division detailing the arrival of the latest shipment of communication compacts for use in the human world so that they can keep in touch with seireitei at all times and makes a mental note to order a powder-pink one for Renji.

Byakuya folds the letter neatly and places it in his pocket gently and tries not to envy Hitsugaya too much.

That night, he dreams of what ice-cream could taste like.

* * *

Two days later, Kuchiki-taichou strides into his office ten minutes early and no one is surprised as it just shows that Kuchiki-taichou is a responsible captain. 

Half an hour later, he sits up straighter and that crick he has in the neck miraculously vanishes as he hears greetings of "Abarai-fukutaichou! Welcome back!" and things of that sort from just outside his office, minutes before he catches sight of a flash of red and his door slams open.

"Yo taichou! I'm back!" Abarai Renji shouts cheerfully, before rubbing his head sheepishly as he spots his taichou staring back at him. Eyelid barely twitching and he knows that although he is barely back, he's already in hot soup.

But he thinks that he wouldn't have it otherwise and grins fiercely.

"Er sorry about the noise, taichou. And er…the door too. Guess I was too eager to see ya and all. I mean…er to report sir!"

The tattoos do not really succeed in covering the rising flush up his neck.

Byakuya thinks its rather cute really, and swallows the reprimand he feels rising up his throat.

The look on Renji's face as he sees the five-inch stack of paperwork he has to finish in the two days he's back for is wonderfully invigorating.

And the undignified squawk and the disgusted expression on Renji's face when he spots the compact case communicator on his desk are totally priceless.

Byakuya settles down to his paperwork, the grumbling curses of his vice-captain providing a harmonious counterpoint to the sweet melodious sounds of spring.

* * *

To be cont'd…. 

Next chapter preview: Dinner at the Kuchiki household. Byakuya and creampuffs?

A/ N: Click on the blue button below points and feed the hungry review monster who will give you the next chapter soon! XD


End file.
